Our department mission is to empower the individual and society to better understand, evaluate, and create media, particularly as it pertains to the connection between responsible, credible journalism and its role in ensuring a viable and strong democracy.

We’re On a Mission!

January 15, 2013

We’ve been focusing on our mission statement a lot at Skyline College. Our college mission statement is “To empower and transform a global community of learners.” Having a mission statement genuinely helps focus an organization and reminds individuals of their overall purpose.

While we aren’t required to have department mission statements, it just makes sense to do so. Even the process of designing the statement is eminently worthwhile, because it really forces you to consider–out of all the many things you could be focusing on–what your most important goal is. For the Skyline College Journalism Department, the mission statement is this:

“To empower the individual and society to better understand, evaluate, and create media, particularly as it pertains to the connection between responsible, credible journalism and its role in ensuring a viable and strong democracy.”

But we didn’t stop there. After coming up with the department mission, it was time for the student newspaper to develop its own mission. First, the staff worked in groups to consider what they did and what they felt the goal of having a student publication was. Then, each group came up with a potential mission statement (most of which had a similar focus–a key sign that they were on the right track, since their visions seemed to have a lot of commonality). Finally, they voted on the statement they most preferred. Here it is:

“To report accurate, informative, and relevant news with honesty and professionalism to the Skyline College community and beyond.”

Are you a part of a program, department or organization that has crafted a mission statement? How has it helped you focus your time and goal setting? We’d love to hear from you.